Page 412 - Western Civilization A Brief History, Volume I To 1715 9th - Jackson J. Spielvogel

CHARLES I AND THE MOVE TOWARD REVOLUTION The conflict that had begun during the reign of James came to a head during the reign of his son, Charles I (1625–1649). In 1628, Parliament passed the Petition of Right, which the king was supposed to accept before being granted any tax revenues. This petition prohib- ited levying taxes without Parliament’s consent, arbi- trary imprisonment, the quartering of soldiers in private houses, and the declaration of martial law in peacetime. Although he initially accepted it, Charles later reneged on the agreement because of its limita- tions on royal power. In 1629, Charles decided that since he could not work with Parliament, he would not summon it to meet. From 1629 to 1640, Charles pur- sued a course of personal rule, which forced him to find ways to collect taxes without the cooperation of Parlia- ment. These expedients aroused opposition from middle- class merchants and landed gentry, who objected to the king’s attempts to tax without Parliament’s consent.
The king’s religious policy also proved disastrous. His attempt to impose more ritual on the Anglican Church struck the Puritans as a return to Catholic pop- ery. Charles’s efforts to force them to conform to his religious policies infuriated the Puritans, thousands of whom abandoned England for the “howling wilder- nesses” of America.
CIVIL WAR AND A NEW GOVERNMENT
Grievances mounted until England finally slipped into a civil war (1642– 1648) that was won by the parliamen- tary forces. Most important to Parlia- ment’s success was the creation of the New Model Army, one of whose leaders was Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658), the only real military genius of the war. The New Model Army was composed primar- ily of more extreme Puritans known as the Independents, who, in typical Cal- vinist fashion, believed they were doing battle for the Lord. As Cromwell wrote in one of his military reports, “Sir, this is none other but the hand of God; and to Him alone belongs the glory.”
As the members of Parliament departed in April 1653, Cromwell shouted after them, “It’s you that have forced me to do this, for I have sought the Lord night and day that He would slay me rather than put upon me the doing of this work.” With the certainty of one who is convinced he is right, Cromwell had destroyed both king and Parliament (see the box on p. 375). Finally, Cromwell dissolved Parliament and divided the country into eleven regions, each ruled by a major gen- eral who served as a military governor. Unable to estab- lish a constitutional basis for a working government, Cromwell had resorted to military force to maintain the rule of the Independents.
Oliver Cromwell died in 1658. After floundering for eighteen months, the military government decided that arbitrary rule by the army was no longer feasible and reestablished the monarchy in the person of Charles II (1660–1685), the son of Charles I. The restoration of the Stuart monarchy ended England’s time of troubles, but it was not long before yet another constitutional crisis arose.
RESTORATION AND A GLORIOUS REVOLUTION Charles was sympathetic to and perhaps even inclined to Catholi- cism. Moreover, Charles’s brother James, heir to the throne, did not hide the fact that he was a Catholic. Parliament’s suspicions were therefore aroused in 1672 when Charles took the audacious step of issuing the
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Declaration of Indulgence, which sus- pended the laws that Parliament had passed against Catholics and Puritans after the restoration of the Anglican Church as the official church of Eng- land. Parliament would have none of it and induced the king to suspend the declaration. Propelled by a strong anti- Catholic sentiment, Parliament then passed the Test Act of 1673, specifying that only Anglicans could hold military and civil offices.
The accession of James II (1685– 1688) virtually guaranteed a new con- stitutional crisis for England. An open and devout Catholic, his attempt to further Catholic interests made religion
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Between 1648 and 1660, England faced a trying sit- uation. After the execution of Charles I on January 30, 1649, Parliament abolished the monarchy and the House of Lords and proclaimed England a republic or commonwealth. But Cromwell and his army, unable to work effectively with Parliament, dispersed it by force.
once more a primary cause of conflict between king and Parliament. In 1687, James issued a new Declara- tion of Indulgence, which suspended all laws that excluded Catholics and Puritans from office. Parliamen- tary outcries against James’s policies stopped short of rebellion because members knew that he was an old
Area supporting Parliament, 1643
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Civil War in England
374 Chapter 15 State Building and the Search for Order in the Seventeenth Century
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